Vox Veritatis
by MadisMad
Summary: A l'il fic I wrote for a competition  which I won n n'  where we had to take a 'Potter Sue' and make an interesting story. I chose 'new girl at Hogwarts who has speshal powers.'


Pushing her headphones deeper into her ears, Frankie tried to ignore the excited giggles coming from all of the other girls in the compartment. She hadn't realised just how much their accent was going to irritate her, and the volume bar on her iPod wouldn't go high enough for the noise to be completely blocked out. She tried to close her eyes and daydream along to the music she was listening to, but as soon as she felt the familiar drift of the melody tugging her from the rowdy train, she was ripped away from it as she felt a bony finger prod her in the shoulder.

"What's that peculiar contraption?" a high-pitched, airy voice asked. Frankie turned to see a pale-faced, white-haired girl staring her right in the face. Her eyes were a piercing, icy blue, and she was wearing a duck-egg blue ribbon round her neck. She looked like the descendant of a French lady, Frankie thought, but her voice had a relatively Irish hint to it. Following the girl's stare, Frankie realised she was asking about her iPod.

"What, don't you know what an iPod is?" she spat, shuffling slightly to the side so that she was pressed rather uncomfortably against the wall of the train. It was only a week after she'd first come from America to England, and she was already getting stupid questions from strangers.

"No, I don't believe I do. I suppose it's a Muggle thing. I can't help but recognize your accent… American, I suppose?" the girl said, perching herself on the edge of the cushioned seat that Frankie was sitting on. Frankie nodded, returning her attention to the touch screen of her iPod, skipping through a couple of song before she came to her favourite.

"My name is Luna, by the way. You can talk to me whenever you wish, if there's any time you might seek some guidance." She said, and Frankie was beginning to get slightly irked by the constant wispiness of her voice. Nodding curtly, she watched as Luna made her way to another, less crowded, compartment. Inside she saw about four other people – a bushy-haired female who had her nose stuck in a Charms book, a red-headed boy who was viciously chewing on a chocolate frog (no doubt packed with calories), an uncomfortable looking boy who had a sweater with the name 'Neville' embroidered in gold letters on it, and a nervous looking boy with circular glasses and messy hair. She thought she saw a scar underneath the brunette bangs, but she decided otherwise. It was probably one of those stick-on things that these English kids thought were cool. Letting her head fall back into the cushion behind her, she tried to ignore the fizzes and bangs that were going off around her, and tried to focus on her music.

Frankie pondered upon getting to Hogwarts as she finally gave up and watched as bright colour bursts exploded in front of her eyes. Ugh. The bangs were starting to hurt her ears.

She'd been born and raised as a Muggle – brought up with all of the things a Muggle wanted and a wizard or witch disregarded. She hadn't realised wizards didn't have iPods, but Luna made it obvious they didn't. Frankie looked down at her boot and twisted the wand she had been given around in her hands. Maple wood with unicorn blood, or something as crazy as that. She was getting seriously nervous about class – she was going to Hogwarts as a fifth year, but she had the magical knowledge of a two year old – and a Muggle two year old at that. Her mom had told her about these wizards who were magical but didn't possess the ability to cast spells – a Squid or something – and she thought how much she'd rather be one of them. But no - apparently, fifteen was the appropriate age to start learning about the wonderful world of wizardry. Ugh. Knowing her luck, she'd probably turn someone into a frog on her first day.

Soon, the train pulled to a halt and Frankie hauled herself to her feet. Walking into the crowded corridor, she noticed how everybody was pulling their robes around their shoulders. For some reason, they had different colours on them – an orange-gold-red colour, a green, a blue and a yellow. It was probably some kind of fashion statement, but Frankie was satisfied with her Lonsdale hoodie. Scanning the crowd, only a couple of people stood out. There was Luna – she was wearing some weird glasses, now – and another boy, who had bleached white hair and was wearing one of the green robes. She tried to follow some of the stares of the kids on the train, but the more she tried, the more she thought they were staring at the guy with the fake scar, and they obviously weren't. Instead of trying harder, she focused on getting off this stuffy train. The last thing she needed was to get claustrophobia or something.

When she got outside, it was too dark to see anything interesting, and the tall bushes were in the way of everything. There were random carriages dotted about, so she climbed up onto one and put her pink and black checked travel bag on the seat beside her. She was sat, waiting for something to happen, when a familiar face came and sat opposite her.

"Hello again." Frankie said, trying for once to be a little sociable. It was Luna, but she seemed to have discarded her glasses. She was carrying a magazine with the heading 'Quibble' and her boots looked as if they were sprouting ears. All Luna did was smile back. Frankie twiddled her thumbs, and then spoke again.

"So, is there a horse or something that pulls us along?" she asked, looking at the empty space before her. She was cold, and the other carriages had gone, so she was getting a little annoyed.

"No, of course not. The Thestrals take us. Walk on." She whispered in her wispy voice, and then something crazy happened – they started to move. Frankie tensed up in her seat.

"What- how.. how are we moving?" she cried, staring all around her as she watched the other carriages moving around them.

"Thestrals – they're quite gentle, really, but you can't see them, because they can only be seen by those who have seen death." She said, patting her hand on something in mid-air. Frankie felt her heart beating rapidly. This whole magic thing was going to take a _lot _of getting used to.

It was beautiful. It was amazing. There were so many words to describe it.. powerful, majestic. Hogwarts was brilliant. Magnificent. There was nothing like this back in America… just loads of Muggle buildings. This was like nothing any Muggle could ever build, ever. It held a power that only magic could create. And Frankie… well, Frankie was completely new to magic, and even she could contemplate this with a witch's mind.

Luna patted the invisible Thestral again, and the carriage came to a sudden halt. Both Frankie and Luna stepped off, and immediately they started walking towards a group of people. When they got closer, Frankie recognized them as the people in the other compartment of the train. Luna grinned toothily at each of them, and gestured royally at Frankie.

"This is.." Luna began and Frankie stepped in by saying "Frankie." Luna smiled again.

"This is Frankie. I met her on the train, and she's quite the sweetheart. I believe she's from America." Luna finished, and placed her hand on the bushy-haired girl's shoulder.

"This is Hermione. I think you'll like her very much, she was raised by Muggles, and she takes Muggle Studies, so I should think she'd be a nice companion for you to have." Luna moved to the red-head. "This is Ronald, second-youngest of the vast Weasley clan." Luna giggled, moving to the guy with the 'Neville' sweater.

"This is Neville Longbottom. If you're ever stuck on a Herbology term, Neville is your 'go-to-guy'. He's so interested in it; I'm surprised he hasn't sprouted leaves." Luna said, moving onto the final person. Ugh – fake scar guy.

"And this! This is Harry Potter, the Chosen One!" Luna cried, falling back into Neville as she chuckled. It looked like Neville blushed a tad – poor kid. Frankie raised her eyebrows at Harry. It seemed his friends thought very highly of him. His glasses suggested nerdiness, so perhaps 'Chosen One' was the magical term for geek or something.

"Nice to meet you, Frankie." Harry said, holding out his hand. Frankie shook it, smiling up at him. He had green eyes, handsome green, and Frankie felt as though their handshake lasted a second longer than it might normally have. A moment later, though, and they were making their way towards the castle.

Frankie watched as a group of small children were led by a tall lady in a pointed hat. She was shouting, 'Welcome to Hogwarts! My name is Professor McGonagall, and I wish you the most pleasurable of stays!'. Frankie wanted badly to follow her, since she was probably going to show the children where they should go, but since she had been lucky in finding some new friends, she stayed close and hoped that they would show her the right place to go. They started off by walking down a large stone cobbled path, and through a set of large doors. Wow, Frankie thought. Wow, wow, wow.

"Come on, we'll show you the Great Hall. You'll be sorted then. We're all in Gryffindor, but you'll find out what house you're in as soon as the Sorting Hat is on your head." Hermione whispered, pointing Frankie to a large crowd in front of a big stage. Frankie smiled back and made her way over. Looking up, she saw the ceiling was decorated with floating candles. Grinning to herself, she lodged herself between two marginally taller first-years.

"Okay! Oldest first," Professor McGonagall shouted, and Frankie stepped up onto the stage. She was pretty sure there weren't any other new fifth-years, so she went over and sat herself down in the chair that took centre-stage.

"Good. This may feel a little bit… strange, but you'll get used to it." McGonagall said, and Frankie wondered what she was talking about. Until the hat came down on her head.

"Ah, Frankie Ericson. The wizard who doesn't know any magic." A voice echoed in Frankie's head, and the hat on her crown started to wriggle around. What. The. Heck?

"I notice that you've acquainted yourself with the Gryffindor crew… well, well, well. Isn't this going to be most interesting of moments?"

Frankie stared into the crowd, and everybody's eyes were either on her or the thing on her head. She started to get a little conscious of what it was, and she was regretting not doing anything with her hair, since as soon as it came off of her head, it'd be all messed up. The thing was moving around _a lot._

"You crave perfection… everything you do is to make yourself look better. You change your hair, you change your clothes, you change your looks everyday just to make yourself look better. In Hogwarts, looks do not matter." The thing said, and Frankie agreed, silently, that it was right. She always changed what she looked like, and normally, it wasn't for herself. She wanted to impress everybody, and that was it.

"You constantly look at others and then link them to imperfection… for example, do you remember the first time you laid eyes on Mr Ron Weasley?" Frankie thought back. The first time she saw Ron was when he was chomping down a chocolate frog. _Damn,_ she thought. The thing was right again – she'd instantly thought about how the calories in the frog would pile up in his fat cells.

"Yes, that's right. And another thing – you judge people almost immediately. Do you still think Potter in but a mere 'wizard nerd'? Or have his friends told you who he really is?" the thing said. _Wait a minute!_ Frankie thought. _This thing is reading my memory! _She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well… what- what do you mean, who he really is?" Frankie stuttered, and she blushed madly as she heard a chorus of gasps throughout the Great Hall.

"She doesn't know who Potter is?" "Has she lived in a box all her life?" "Fancy not knowing who Harry Potter is!"

Frankie heard the thing on her head chuckle.

"Harry Potter is a wizard that every wizard knows about. Even the Squibs – they're called Squibs, not Squids, by the way. He is the boy who survived the Avada Kedrava curse as a baby, and he is the Chosen One. The one who is destined to destroy the Dark Lord." The thing said in a hushed yet powerful voice, and Frankie noticed that the hall had gone extremely quiet.

"The.. the Dark Lord?" Frankie asked, and an even louder gasp echoed around the hall. Frankie didn't know if she felt tears pricking in her eyes, because she was so humiliated, she couldn't feel them.

"The Dark Lord is the darkest wizard ever to have existed! And you did not know of his existence? It is shameful! But it means you are cruelly unprotected. You need to stay safe, my child, or bad things may come your way… the Dark Lord has noted your name and is ready to choose what is to happen…" the thing on her head trailed off, and suddenly it was wrenched from her head before it could say any more. Frankie looked at it. It was a hat with a face. Of course.

"Slytherin! Your knowledge of the Dark Arts is humiliating but your personality reassures me that the darkness residing within you will follow suit!"

Frankie looked over to Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ron and Luna. They all had agape expressions on their faces, and as Frankie shakily made her way to the Slytherin table (the house with the green robes) and got handed her uniform, she was certain she saw Hermione shaking her head in disappointment. But Frankie wasn't worried. Surely these houses were just bases? Surely houses could mix? Sitting next to a boy who was smiling into his soup, Frankie pondered upon this.

"It amuses me how ignorant you've been about the wizarding world." The boy next to her said. Frankie pulled the sleeves of her hoodie further over her hands and ignored him.

"If you're trying to make new friends, ignoring them isn't going to help you that much." He said, and Frankie looked up at him through her eyelashes, afraid that the tears would finally show now. She noticed that this was the bleach-blonde-white haired boy that she'd seen on the train when Luna was wearing her freaky glasses.

"Sorry. I'm just a little bit… confused and humiliated." Frankie said, almost all one word as it gushed out in a breath.

"I could understand. Although… I can't let anybody see that I'm talking to you." The boy said, and Frankie laughed to herself, before she realised that the boy was looking seedily around. He hadn't been joking. Frankie rolled her eyes, but then realised that the 'sorting hat' had put her in Slytherin on the terms that she changed herself sometimes to look good. This dude was doing just the same, so they were both guilty of the same crime.

"I'm Draco, by the way. Draco Malfoy. Don't worry, the sorting process is sometimes a little bit intimidating… but he's right about our Dark Lord. Don't worry though. You're in Slytherin. You're his favourite."

Before Frankie could reply to his peculiar statement, a commotion started over on the other side of the Great Hall. It was Gryffindor, and they were all standing up. Next, Hufflepuff got up, and they were followed by Ravenclaw. Frankie gathered that Slytherin would be next, so she stood up, along with Draco. He tried to make it slightly less obvious that they were together by walking ahead, but Frankie still followed him since she had no clue where she was going.

"To the Slytherin dungeons!" a professor cried, and it was all Frankie could do not to freeze. _Dungeons? _Walking slightly slower, she followed everybody down to a large door and heard someone whisper something inaudibly. Soon, they were all filing into the room.

It was strangely elegant. The room had a green tinge to it, and the effect was strengthened by the green lamps dotted casually around the room. The couches were a dark green leather, and the dresser tables and cupboards were built out of a dark wood that looked oddly twisted and evil. There were intricate patterns sewn into the curtains and the scarce windows were barred with black and green iron rails.

"Frankie, follow me. I'll show you to the dorms." Frankie heard, and she turned to see a dark-haired girl about the same age as her staring into her face.

"I'm Pansy, Draco's friend. Well… we'll see about the friend part. Anyway, you need to get dressed into your robes and then get to your lessons." She said, and promptly grabbed Frankie's wrist and pulled her to the dorms. They were very similar to the common room – the beds were made of dark wood, and the curtains that were draped around the four posts were a regal green colour.

"I'll leave you to it to get dressed. After lessons you can do what you will, but if you need me I'll probably be in the common room." Pansy said, and then left the dorms. Frankie put on her shirt, her tie, her skirt and her tights, and then draped her robes round her shoulders and slipped her arms in. Looking in the mirror, Frankie smiled. For once in her life… she looked… the word wouldn't come, but she just liked the way the robes looked against her skin. She didn't think she needed to tie her hair back, so she just brushed through it. Leaving her clothes in a big pile on the bed, she went down the stairs into the common room and looked at a map that was posted on the notice board. Her timetable said her first lesson was Charms, and the classroom she was in was on the Third Floor.

"Tuesdays are our best days, you see. Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and then a free." Frankie heard Pansy explain behind her. Frankie was not looking forward to Charms – she wasn't too keen on the idea of turning someone into a frog – but she shrugged it off.

Soon, Frankie was following a large crowd of Slytherins towards a corridor that she figured was where Charms was held. She saw Hermione and Harry walking in and sped up. They had sat themselves down at a table for three, so Frankie went and sat down in the extra seat. Harry looked at her, and the look on his face suggested that he was extremely uncomfortable.

"Um, we usually reserve that seat for Ron." Hermione chirped. Frankie felt a red flush across her cheeks.

"Oh… right, yes, sorry." She muttered, and then sat at a desk in the back corner. Charms was less exciting than Frankie had imagined. She thought using a wand would be relatively easy, but after ten times trying to levitate a feather, she had given up and started to burn patterns in the table without knowing how she was doing it. Looking over at Draco, Pansy, Harry, Ron and Hermione, she saw that they were all staring proudly at an airborne feather. She was hopeless. The best that she had done was managing to get it to move a centimetre, but she hadn't managed to lift it off of the table. Professor Flitwick wasn't really taking much notice of his class, as he was far too interested in an infestation of flying feathers in his storage cabinet. It wasn't long before he was dismissing his class and Frankie was following everybody to Potions.

Entering Potions with a heavy heart, Frankie sat at the end of a long row. She was surprised, to say the least, when Neville came and sat beside her. She was less pleased to see that he was trying his very best not to look at her.

"Okay, class. I think we are all aware that we have a new student in class today, so I expect the best of behaviour and the best work so we can show her just how intelligent and worthy we are here at Hogwarts." The professor bellowed, and a place card on his desk suggested that his name was Professor Snape.

"Today, I will be showing you how to create a Babbling Beverage. Those who study well will understand that this is a potion that causes the drinker to talk complete nonsense. I will not be testing it on a student; however… we have a willing test subject who will be drinking my concoction today." Snape explained, and a tall man stepped out of the storage cabinet. Other students started to snigger, but Frankie didn't know who it was, so she just rested her head in her hands.

"Settle down, class. Now, I will mix the ingredients…" Snape said, and then he started to add things to the silver cauldron on his desk. Frankie watched in amazement and Snape lowered the bowl so the students could see what was happening. The ingredients he had added were binding together, and they were creating a bright red substance that was swirling magically. Frankie smiled and realised that she'd probably really enjoy this class.

Soon, Snape was pouring a ladle of the potion into a flask and was passing it to the tall man. He drank a bit, and then the pupils in his eyes grew to be twice the size of his normal pupils.

"Aha! I feel like the second fret of the Hallelujah clan in polyjuice decagon tree!" the man cried. Frankie giggled, along with all the other students. Snape sneered at his class, and started to usher the man back into the closet with a bottle labelled 'Babble Antidote'.

"Alright, I'll be the kangaroo in a rug portrait gagging the fluffy egg!" he shouted, his voice becoming more and more muffled as he went into the closet. Soon, his voice stopped and Frankie guessed he had drunk the antidote.

"Okay, class. I would like you to research the ingredients to this potion for next lesson – if you paid close attention to me, that shouldn't be too difficult." He said, and then Frankie got up and smoothed her robes out.

"Class dismissed." Snape muttered, and then the class filed out.

Frankie had Defence Against the Dark Arts now, and she was truly scared of what was to come. Hogwarts had already turned out to be completely insane. On the way from the Potions class to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class (which she noticed the other students called DATDA) she had seen two portraits chatting to each other. It was some painting from the Civil War and some other painting from 'the future'. They were debating, it seemed. Frankie followed everybody into the classroom. There was a man with an extremely long beard sat at the front. Frankie was pleased to see that these desks were made for one person at a time.

"Settle down, class. Your original Defence Against the Dark Arts is away, so I have stepped in for your class today." The man said. His voice was oddly aged, and he looked as though wisdom found a home in his body. His eyes wandered across the room and found Frankie. A smile creased along his face.

"Ah, Frankie. My name is Professor Dumbledore. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am very glad you finally decided to come – our mailing owls were itching to send your letter of enrolment, but while you were in America they couldn't." Dumbledore chuckled at the thought. After giving Frankie a little wave off, he walked to the front of the room. His robes were very elegant, sky blue with golden lining. His beard was impressive, too.

"Today, we will be focusing on simple charms. I haven't the papers to teach you what was assigned to me. However, I am the headmaster so what I say inevitably goes." Dumbledore said. Frankie groaned in annoyance. She'd already seen how awful she was at charms, so this was going to be fun.

"First, we'll try… hm…" Dumbledore hummed, swirling around the classroom in his long robes. "We'll try the Duro spell first. Watch me." Dumbledore said, bringing out his delicate wand. There was instantly a podium up at the front of the room, with a rose in a blue pot stood on it. Dumbledore then somehow made an exact replica of the rose on each of the desks in the room.

"You say 'Duro' and then wave your wand like this," he explained, waving his wand in a circular motion.

"Duro!" he cried, pointing his wand at the rose. It crumbled and cracked, and then turned to stone. Frankie giggled.

"Now, you try." Dumbledore said. All around the classroom, roses began to turn to stone. In about five seconds, Frankie was the only one who hadn't done the spell – she was too busy trying to remember something. It was a song… and the rose turning into stone had triggered the thoughts.

"Aha! The Stone Roses, I remember. _What goes up must come down, turns into dust or turns into stone._" Frankie sang.

At once, the rose in front of her took flight, rising into the air. It then suddenly dropped, turned into stone, then crumbled into dust that flew away into the air. Frankie looked at her desk in awe.

"What in Merlin's name just happened?" Ron cried.

Up until Ron's comment, Dumbledore had been staring at Frankie's desk with the same amount of awe as she had been.

"Vox… vox veritatis.. . no, it can't be…" he began to murmur. Suddenly, he glided to the back of the classroom and took Frankie by the wrist, leading her to the front. Flicking his wand, a white orchid appeared on the podium.

"Repeat what I say, and flick your wand like this," Dumbledore demonstrated, "Engorgio!"

"Engorgio!" Frankie repeated, flicking her wand nervously. She watched as the flower swelled up slightly before deflating back to its normal size.

"Yes… now sing the song that first came into your head when I showed you this white orchid." Dumbledore ordered. There was a sense of urgency in his voice. Frankie thought for a second, but then knew exactly what he meant. How he knew, she didn't know – perhaps he did a lot of Muggle studying.

"_You took a white orchid, you took a white orchid and turned it blue,_" Frankie sang, and immediately, the snow white orchid on the podium leaked its colour and replaced the white with a dark blue colour. Dumbledore began to shake physically. He coughed a number of times before muttering,

"Class dismissed."

Frankie wandered through the door of the classroom, entirely unaware of what exactly had just happened. People from her class began to stare at her strangely, and she felt as though whenever she passed through a corridor, all the whispering stopped because she had arrived. Frankie was fed up of it all – the magic, the whispering, and the weirdness. She just wanted to go home and watch TV, and cuddle up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa. There was probably not TV in the school… upon passing the drinks in the Great Hall, there was certainly no hot cocoa.

"Frankie!" she heard, but a split second after, she was being dragged away by the wrist (for the second time that day).

"What the- Get off of me!" she muttered, but still she was pulled. After a while, though, they stopped, and Frankie span around with her hand poised, ready to punch the lights out of the dragger. But when she looked, she saw that it was Hermione and Harry that had dragged her through the school.

"What… what do you want?" Frankie asked, tears of frustration already brimming at her eyes.

"We need you. What happened in Defence Against the Dark Arts was certainly abnormal. Just follow us… we'll explain in a minute." Hermione said. Frankie scowled.

"Why should I follow you? You've been nothing but mean to you ever since the welcoming feast." She muttered. Harry sighed.

"Slytherin and Gryffindor are both sworn enemies, Frankie. We thought…we thought that because you knew us you'd be sorted into Gryffindor, but obviously not. You can't blame us for the fact that you'd be the centre of all negative attention if we talked to you." He mumbled, and Frankie folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

"Fine. Where are we going?" she asked. Hermione smiled, and then turned towards the wall.

"Why are we- " Frankie was cut off by a rippling in the wall. A door was appearing … a big oak door. Harry and Hermione pulled Frankie inside the room, and then the door disappeared again. Before Frankie could protest, Hermione explained again.

"Room of Requirement. It only shows itself to those who really need it, and when it does, it shows them what they really need." She said. Frankie nodded, although she was more focused on the things in the room. There were pieces of paper scattered around all over the place. There was a dandelion in a vase on a counter, along with various other random props.

"And why do we need it?" Frankie asked eventually.

"Okay.. brace yourself." Hermione said.

"When you turned that rose to dust in DATDA, Dumbledore said 'vox veritatis'. I'd heard of it before – I was sure of it. So I went to the library and looked it up. And there it was – the vox veritatis, one of the rarest wizards ever. Vox veritatis roughly translates to the voice of truth. The legend is that, as soon as the vox veritatis wizard steps into a place of magical significance, their voice, in some way, becomes real. Real, as in what they say comes to life. You're the vox veritatis wizard, Frankie. You're in Hogwarts, which has a lot of magical significance, and when you sing… the words come to life." Hermione explained. Frankie had to sit down, because she felt incredibly faint.

"So… oh, God, this is a lot to take in." Frankie gasped. Hermione nodded.

"We know. That's why we've set up some… tests. Come over here." Hermione led her to a seat.

"Read these lyrics while looking at Harry – it's The Storm by The Blackout, I know you know it because Luna saw it on the screen of your iPod. Just sing it in a different tune than it should be." Hermione said. Frankie did as she was told.

"_Don't tear us apart, don't tear us apart, don't tear us apart, I'll tear you apart,_" Frankie sang, but in a different key. Harry watched in amazement as his skin suddenly broke apart. Frankie gasped, running up to him and squeezing the wound back together.

"I'm a monster!" Frankie cried. Hermione shook her head.

"Don't worry. The whole point of you singing it in a different key was so you didn't hurt him that bad." She said nonchalantly. It didn't make it seem much better.

"Okay, now look at dandelion. Sing these – it's Don't Cry, Someone Might Hear by Amyst. Sing it properly this time." Hermione ordered.

"_The petals start to wither, the yellow turns to white,_" Frankie sang, and watched, still in amazement, as the petals of the plant turned white and then withered.

"This is so weird." Frankie muttered.

"But it's so special!" Hermione giggled.

Suddenly, Harry screamed, and the room was plunged into a depth of green darkness.

"Yes, Frankie, my sweet, special Frankie," a voice hissed from each of the corners.

"What's going on?" Frankie cried, holding onto Hermione and Harry, who was currently writhing in pain.

"Oh God! Frankie! Get those papers! Sing! Sing like you're never going to sing again!" Hermione screamed, cradling her legs in her arms. Frankie felt her heartbeat quicken as she went to run for the papers. But suddenly, her legs became heavier, and it became such an effort to run.

"Frankie, again you seem to forget who I am. I am your Lord… I am your Dark Lord. I am your Lord Voldemort!" the voice hissed, and the greenish tint to the room became an even brighter light. So bright that it was almost blinding. However, Frankie knew that this was not a good thing, the voice, so she carried on trying to run with her legs feeling as heavy as lead. When it seemed like she could reach the papers with just a reach with her arm, she stopped and tried to reach for them.

"Oh, Frankie, your attempts to escape amuses me. I only have one question… join me…" the voice hissed.

"No! You mustn't!" Hermione and Harry both cried in unison.

"I won't" Frankie screamed, reaching further for the papers, her strength slowly seeping from her body.

"Oh, you won't, will you? We'll see about that!" the voice hissed, and suddenly, a pain so agonizing bolted through Frankie's body, her eyes forgot how to see. Her legs forgot how to walk, and her arms forgot how to move. Her ears forgot how to hear, and her senses broke down. Painful images ran across Frankie's eyes, and everything negative that she had ever experienced was seeping deep down into her soul. She could feel something evil invading her. It was breaking her…

"NO!" Frankie screamed, forcing her limbs to move, forcing her tears to fall, forcing her senses to work. She forced the pain, just to know that she was living. She forced everything negative back out, and soon, the evil felt as though it were dissipating. Frankie suddenly felt a jolt of strength and she grabbed the papers. Then, she sang as though she'd never sing again.

"_We'll fight you! Well never be defeated, we'll forget you! We'll beat you! We'll kill your force and we'll defeat you! We'll fight you! You'll never break us! You'll never break ME!_" Frankie screamed, the pain becoming overwhelming. Soon, it became so awful that Frankie's mind went white, and the next thing she knew was nothing.

"Frankie? Frankie!"

Frankie opened her eyes, and then shut them immediately after. It was too bright.

"Turn the light off, Ron."

The brightness against Frankie's eyelids went away, and she opened them timidly.

"Oh, Frankie! You're okay!" Hermione said, enveloping Frankie in a tight hug.

Frankie remembered what had happened right up until she had stopped singing. Everything after that was… it wasn't blank. It was white.

"You sang and everything went away, and the room was white for a second, but then it went back to normal. We were celebrating like crazy but then we saw you on the floor and brought you to the Infirmary. You've been out for hours – there's been a meeting in the Great Hall. Everybody knows just how amazing you were. You saved us from another attack… you were so brave." Harry said, smiling down at her toothily. Frankie smiled weakly. Sitting up, her head spun a little but she soon recovered and looked at everybody. Around her sat Luna, Neville, Ron, Harry and Hermione. She heard muffled talking and saw that outside, there was a crowd of other students trying to see what was happening inside.

"You were brilliant." Harry said, kissing Frankie on the cheek as Ron switched the lights back on.

"Absolutely brilliant." They chorused around her, as Frankie sat back in her bed and let her eyes rest.

Hogwarts was definitely different.


End file.
